The following messages are replies from "besati" to respond to my technical problems related to scanning and printing.

windywood:
English>Is a file created by Nikon D70 large enough to make a 12R print?
Chinese>各位對D70 放 12R 相有甚麼評價?

besati:
The resolution of the image on your monitor is 72 lpi (lines per inch) x 72 lpi. For normal printing, 300 lpi x 300 lpi will give excellent results. However, for common daily use, 200 lpi x 200 lpi is still OK if you are not critical.

For 8R prints (8" x 6"), using 1500x1200 jpg is equivalent to 187.5 lpi x 200 lpi which should be marginally acceptable. Therefore, for 12R prints (8" x 12"), using a 1600x2400 (3M pixels) source will give satisfactory results to common people.

However, if you wish to progress in serious photography, working in RAW and TIF format is a MUST.

windywood:
English>When I scanned old photos with 1200dpi, the lines and edges in image was not smooth at all and look like saws. What is the max. dpi value I should use for scanning photos?

besati:
English>The output picture quality for a scanner is determined by optical resolution, not the software resolution, so the resolution power of the lens in scanner is very important. That's why an Agfa 600dpi Scanner can deliver better scans than a HP or a Taiwanese scanner.

Before scanning, the size of print should be known, then is multiplied by 300lpi, finally the result is divided by the area/size of scanned object. The final result will be the dpi value to set on the scanner.

I thought there may be a virus or multiple viruses in my computer for a while. However, anti-virus scanning did not spot any germs. Last week I tried defragmentization my drives. However, the running speed of my PC is still horribly slow. This week, I turned to chase any spyware and I learnt that I can find spyware by checking programs running as the background. In this morning, when I was checking the background running programs by searching what they are one by one on internet, finally, I spotted the worm. I also found a couple programs, which are not necessary to run as background.

It is partially because I recently feel tired, and also because I have got new plans of creating new albums, I decide not to update my journals about travelling in Japan. I have planned to discuss my questions to Japanese society after visiting campuses of universities in Japan, and a conclusion of the journey. However, just leave them for the future. Even if I have time now, I would rather create a Chinese version for the series.

"Miracle is the Nature which we haven't got use to. The Nature is a miracle which we have got use to."

As a Chinese grown up in Hong Kong, I could never understand why foreign visitors are interested in Hong Kong. I always wonder "Why?" After discussions with other people on my blog, I started getting a clue. Editors of National Geographic Traveller picked Hong Kong as one of 10 urban spaces of a lifetime in the issue of October 1999. I was surprised Hong Kong is the only city in East Asia on the list. I think I am going to use a part of my leisure time to find out why with my cameras.

The photo above was found in National Geographic Online. It was taken at Nathan Road in 1961. The police booth at the middle of roads, police uniform before handover, and old double-decker have all become history of Hong Kong.

I discovered the above photo taken by Hubble on a blog this morning. If you are interested to know more about this nebula in english, please click the following link to hubblesite.Hubble Peers Inside a Celestial Geode

Many years ago I saw a poster in an university. The poster was about the principle of a coach of a basketball team. It is called "The Pyramid of Success". I was learning to create pictures with softwares on PC, so I created a wallpaper according to the coach's principle.

Check with the content of image if you know Chinese, to see if his principle is agreetable with your own.